Having successfully defended the Calcutta Cup in the opening round of the Six Nations, Scotland now set their sights on a wounded Welsh outfit. Darry Worthington previews.
Scotland v Wales
Saturday 11 February
Murrayfield
16:45
Scotland will be looking to build on yet another famous Calcutta Cup win when they take on a wounded Welsh outfit at Murrayfield this coming Saturday.
The hosts were outstanding at Twickenham last weekend while the Welsh struggled against a dominant Irish outfit and have a lot to improve upon if they are to test the Scots.
Scotland 4/11 | Draw 22/1 | Wales 85/40
Handicap
Scotland (-6.5) 17/20 | Wales (+6.5) 5/6
Gregor Townsend’s men completed the hat-trick over the English, beating their arch-foes for the third time on the trot.
The star of the show for the Scots was South African-born winger Duhan van der Merwe – whose spectacular solo effort, which is an early contender for try of the year – was the catalyst for their 23-29 victory.
Van der Merve wasn’t the only standout for the Scots, however, with Finn Russel having a solid game at fly-half while Huw Jones and Sione Tuipulotu were brilliant in midfield.
It wasn’t only the backs that produced the goods last weekend, though, with prop Pierre Schoeman impressing at set-piece time and with ball-in-hand while Matt Fagerson did an admirable job at the tail of the scrum.
The Scotland brains’ trust will want more of the same this weekend, while the Welsh will need to put in the hard yards at Training this week.
The Dragons were extremely blunt on attack only scoring one try at home against the Irish. They struggled to deal with the Irish defensive line speed due, with their predictable attacking patterns easily shut down by Andy Farrell’s men.
Warren Gatland may look to ring the changes here with a number of his players underperforming against the Irish. We could well see a new centre pairing for Wales, while Tommy Reffell may just get a start in the forward pack having impressed off the bench.
Verdict: Scotland (-6.5) 17/20
It’s a low handicap and while the ‘Scots are far from being the most consistent side in the world, I can see them breezing past the (-6.5) and bagging another win against a Welsh outfit who are still finding their feet under Gatland.
